WELCOME TO THE TWENTY-THIRD ANNUAL SEMPER FI HANDBALL TOURNAMENT

Since￿our tournament is similar to other handball tournaments, the information you will need is contained in the General Tournament Information section herein.￿ Other information specific to our tournament is below. Please note that there are some significant changes this year:

1. The Categories (1-6) of players will be retained, but Category 6 was renamed to ￿Other.￿

2. To ensure that previous participants retain their priority of entering the tournament, all of them from 2011 and earlier are ￿grandfathered.￿

3. All registrants will continue to have to specify their Category. Upon registration being opened on-line through the R2 website, all Categories may register. It behooves everyone to register early. Category 6 entrants are considered ￿conditional￿ until they are notified by the Tournament Director no later than 27 April 2012, whether they have been guaranteed entry or not, subject to the possibility that the tournament cap has been reached with Category 1-5 (which includes grandfathered participants) entrants. If that situation occurs, entries will be closed.

4. If the tournament cap is not reached by 27 April 2012, registration will be remain open to all players in all Categories until such time as the cap is reached, brackets become filled (Singles brackets will not exceed 16 players and Doubles will not exceed 8 teams due to court/time limitations), or until the tournament registration deadline date of May 11, 2012, is reached. Although Category 6 entrants will still be allowed to register after 27 April 2012, they will not enjoy the ￿guaranteed status￿ that those who registered prior to that date have; and, since Category 1-5 participants may register at any time until the final deadline date, the latter would have precedence. Opening the Semper Fi tournament in this manner will allow many other players the opportunity to participate, hopefully populate the ￿younger/open￿ brackets, and enhance the quality of play.

5. Beginning in 2012, any new Category 6 participants (￿Other￿) will not be ￿grandfathered, ￿however, they would be able to enter future Semper Fi tournaments under the same conditions as those specified herein.

6. In addition, new this year will be the inclusion of some Juniors. We hope to begin a regional competition among various kid's handball programs. Our initial one will pit the Yes-2-Kids program from Tucson against James Coronado's kids from Santa Barbara. If you would like to support/sponsor a kid from either of these very important youth handball programs, please contact Abe Montijo in Tucson at: 520-780-3284 or abemontijo88@yahoo.com; or, James Coronado in Santa Barbara at: 805-637-5005. Youth programs are vital to handball and they need monetary support.

Eligibility:￿ The Semper Fi Tournament is somewhat unique in that the category of the entrant defines a registration priority.￿ These categories are listed below.￿ Before continuing with the registration process, please determine your category as you will have to specify it as you register on-line.

Costs:￿ $60.00 entry fee. $15 for second event.￿￿Juniors $45 (Single-event only). There is NO￿charge for an active duty enlisted applicant; accordingly, complete the on-line registration process and when you reach the payment section, merely indicate you will pay by check.￿ Then, when checking-in at the tournament site, be sure to indicate that you are on "active duty." No refunds after the deadline date except that Category 6 entrants will have their entry fee refunded in full if they cannot be included in the tournament.

Semper Fi Foundation:￿ Donations can be either mailed in or processed on-line.￿ Mail donations to Ray Leidich, 10 Stefaniga Farms Drive, Stafford, VA 22556.￿ Make checks payable to USHA and signify Semper Fi Foundation in the lower left-hand corner of the check.￿ For on-line donations, please refer to the section where additional items may be purchased for information.￿ Donations can be￿ANY amount including those made on-line (please disregard the parameters entered--the R2 program required that something be entered in those fields).

Mandatory Meeting:￿ There is a mandatory player's meeting at 10:00 AM Friday at the Field House (about 1 block NE of the handball courts to the right-rear of the bowling alley).

Rules:￿ USHA.￿ Single elimination with a singles and doubles consolation bracket.￿ Eye guards mandatory.￿ No-ref policy until the semi-finals.￿ Assigned refs thereafter.

Start Times:￿￿First round play starts at￿11:30 PM Friday.￿ Start times will be available on-line, will be published by email, and displayed on the Semper Fi website NLT 6 PM, 5/24/12.￿ Start times will NOT be available by telephone.

Age Requirement:￿ In accordance with USHA rules.￿ "In any division designated by a minimum age (Senior's, Master's, etc.), the entrant must reach the proper age on or before December 31 of the calendar year in which he/she participates."

Scoring:￿ All Open & Masters matches will be 21, 21, 11 point format.￿￿All other matches (including Junior's)￿will be 15, 15, 11 point format￿until the semi-finals and finals which￿will then be the regulation 21, 21, 11 format.￿

Hospitality:￿ Breakfast rolls, fruit, coffee and lunch available Friday and Saturday. Beverages available at all times.￿ BBQ and Pizza will be available at the courts on Friday night.￿￿￿The banquet on Saturday night￿will be at the Bay View Club at MCRD and is provided free of charge for participants and one guest. Tickets for additional guests may be purchased on-line in the "additional items to purchase "section and at the tournament control desk..

Souvenir:￿ Collared tournament shirt

Awards:￿ First and Second in each category plus First in consolation.

Billeting:￿ There is a wide array of billeting available to both military and non-military entrants and guests.￿ Please refer to the Semper Fi Handball Link ("News" section) for information and assistance (www.semperfihandball.com).￿ Other billeting information is￿available in the￿"Hotels and Information" section￿reachable in￿the registration process herein.￿

Special Events:￿Unlike most previous years, there will be no Recruit Graduation Parade on Tournament Friday. That means there will not be an early morning mini-band concert and flag raising either. A possible alternate Friday morning activity is to view the MCRD Museum located just inside the main gate and adjacent to the PX.

Membership:￿ Since this is a USHA￿sanctioned tournament, all participants￿must be USHA￿members.￿ Subscriptions and renewals can be done as part of your registration process on-line￿(see the section where additional items may be purchased).￿ Application forms will also be available at the tournament control desk.￿ The Semper Fi Foundation will pay the USHA membership fees for active-duty enlisted member participants who are not presently USHA members.

Participant Categories:￿ The number of participants is capped and the priority of participation is as follows:

1.￿ Marines*

2.￿ Navy personnel who have￿previously served with￿Marine units*

3.￿ Other military personnel who have previously participated in this tournament*

4.￿ Military personnel who have not previously participated in this tournament*￿

5.￿ "Grandfathered" previous participants of 2011 and earlier

6.￿ Other.

*￿ Denotes active, reserve, retired, or former

YOU MUST DECLARE YOUR CATEGORY￿ in the on-line registration process (the program will not allow you to enter without specifying your category).￿￿￿ Misrepresenting one's￿eligibility category will result in tournament exclusion.

If a need exists to prioritize within Category 5 or 6 applicants, first priority will be given to those who will be flying to San Diego since they will have to make their reservations well in advance.￿ Other Category 5 or 6 discriminators (not in order of priority) include:

1.￿ Times played in the Semper Fi Tournament (after 2012)

2.￿ Most recently played in the Semper Fi Tournament (after 2012)

3.￿ Date of application

We hope to be able to accommodate all entrants, but if we are unable to do so, entrance fees will be refunded.

Doubles:￿ Those who wish to play doubles but need a partner, please specify such in the "Additional Comments and Time Conflict" Box when registering on-line.￿ The tournament director will do his best to "pick a partner" for you.￿ If a partner cannot be found by the time the draws are established, you will not be included so as to not affect the seedings.￿ Should a vacancy subsequently occur, upon your request, the tournament director may￿insert you into the draw.

Equipment:￿ A limited amount of USHA handball equipment will be available for sale at the tournament site to include gloves (and inserts), balls, eye guards, and headbands.￿